


Dance With Me

by lannisterslioness



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dancing, Dancing Lessons, F/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-15 22:56:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11815905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannisterslioness/pseuds/lannisterslioness
Summary: Just a month before a big dancing competition, Poe's partner - Jess - injures herself, asking Rey to take her place. The problem? Rey has never danced before a day in her life, not to mention she's had a crush on him since she was a teenager. Will she even be able to focus with someone as charming as Poe always at her side for the next month?





	Dance With Me

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: and this is officially the last of the prompts for the giveaway i did a few months ago! this one is for @poesreyofsunshine , and i hope that everyone like it! it turned out a lot longer than i expected so hopefully there is something here for everyone to enjoy! <3

Rey didn’t have a graceful bone in her body, or at least she felt that way. She could fight, she could knock almost anyone down off of their feet, but she wasn’t exactly graceful when it came to more delicate matters - like dancing. Yet, for some reason, Poe asked her to be his partner for this upcoming competition he and Jess were already entered in. 

 

“Please Rey, I know it’s a lot, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Poe said, “Jess broke her ankle, she won’t be dancing for a while.” 

 

“The competition is in a month, how can you teach me to dance in a month?” Rey asked. 

 

“You’ll have the best teacher in the world helping you out, that’s how.” Poe replied, a grin on his face. 

 

Rey rolled her eyes but grinned, either way, she wished that she could have a fraction of Poe’s confidence half of the time. 

 

“It’s just one routine, that’s all you have to learn, anyone can learn one routine in a month.” Poe said. 

 

“Oh, I don’t think you’ve ever seen me try to dance, if you did, you know it would take way longer than a month.” Rey said, trying to turn her attention back to whatever hellish reality show she had playing on the TV in her apartment. 

 

“You can’t be that bad.” Poe said. 

 

“You have no idea.” Rey said. 

 

“Would you at least try, for me?” Poe asked. 

 

Rey glanced over at him and wished she hadn’t, he was staring at her with those big brown eyes of his, trying his best to convince her to just give things a try. She still hadn’t found a way to resist his glare when he gets like that, and with a heavy sigh, Rey knew she was going to give in to him. 

 

“Fine, I’ll try it,” Rey said, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you realize how terrible I am at dancing.” 

 

“I promise I can get you to learn at least this one routine, and thank you, Rey.” Poe replied, a beaming smile on his face now as he sat down beside her on her sofa. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


There were a few things Rey never planned on doing on an early Sunday morning, one of them was waking up before nine o’clock which had already happened, the other was being in a dance studio before nine o’clock with Poe Dameron trying to teach her how to salsa dance. Poe was optimistic to a fault, he never once said anything bad about her dancing in the two hours they’d been together in that studio. He would try to correct her here and there of course, mostly just by guiding her, and even when she stepped on his toes and felt more embarrassed than she ever had in her life, he would just smile through it without missing a beat. Poe had been one of her best friends for some time, she knew how kind and caring he was to everyone he ever met, but she’d never spent this much time with him without interruptions - she had to admit it was kind of nice, despite her lack of grace and him more than likely having very bruised toes. 

 

“Sorry about -” 

 

“Rey, you’ve apologized fifty times, it’s fine,” Poe said, a laugh shortly following and that cheerful smile never leaving his face, “you’re learning, it’s perfectly normal. I couldn’t tell you how many times I stepped on my mom’s toes when she was trying to teach me how to waltz for your parent’s wedding.” 

 

“To be fair, you were a little kid, I’m an adult.” Rey said. 

 

“An adult that has never properly danced before in her life, so you’re learning.” Poe said. 

 

Rey smirked at his reply. “How are you so optimistic about everything all the time?” 

 

Poe looked over at her for a minute, seeming to really think on his reply by biting down on his lower lip and brows furrowing slightly. They’d both worked up a sweat in their two hours of dancing and Rey was trying not to be distracted by the fact that she somehow found him slightly more attractive than usual. She wasn’t blind, Poe was her friend, yes, but not even Finn could deny that Poe Dameron was easily the most attractive man in their circle of friends. 

 

“It’s easier to be positive than it is to be negative, besides, positivity is contagious if I can make the people around me happy then what’s there to be negative about.” Poe answered with a slight shrug. 

 

“Even if there’s someone stepping on your toes every five minutes while you’re trying to teach them how to dance?” Rey asked. 

 

“Especially when that happens.” Poe said, 

 

At that, Rey laughed, she almost didn’t notice that Poe had walked over and put an arm around her, pulling her in for a slight half hug, but still keeping his hand on the small of her back when he pulled away. 

 

“How’s Jess doing?” Rey asked. 

 

“I was actually just going to bring her up,” Poe said, his hand still firmly in place, “she’s been pretty miserable since she broke her ankle with having to stay still lately and I’ve been trying to plan this dinner for her, inviting everyone over to my place so she can see everybody.” 

 

“I think that’d be really nice for her, I’d be happy to help out.” Rey said. 

 

“I was going to ask if you’d make your famous banana bread, Jess never stops talking about it and I know it would certainly lift her spirits.” Poe said. 

 

“If I remember correctly the last time I made that for Jess, she ate one piece of it and you ate the rest of it.” Rey said. 

 

For the first time, Poe looked a little embarrassed himself and Rey couldn’t help that it made her heart skip a beat just a bit, though she had to admit the schoolgirl crush she’d had on him forever was getting a little juvenile. Poe was probably more interested in Jess than he ever would be in her, he’d known her since she was in diapers, what was romantic about that? Not to mention he and Jess spent more time together than he did with anyone else, not to mention they had far more in common - the both of them being former pilots who still fly in their free time together. 

 

“I promise I won’t eat all of it this time, it’s for Jess, I swear.” Poe said. 

 

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.” Rey said, trying to ignore the slight bitterness she felt as she said that; she loved Jess like a sister, she could never be mad at her about anything, especially not over Poe and whether they were together or not. 

 

“So, is that a yes?” Poe asked. 

 

“Yes, I will make the banana bread for her, just tell me when and I’ll have it ready.” Rey assured him. 

 

“Thank you, again,” Poe said, “I owe you one.” 

 

“You owe me two for dragging me into this dance competition.” Rey said, a smirk on her lips. 

 

“I will make it up to you, I promise.” Poe said. 

 

“You better, I can already feel my muscles screaming at me for never having to move around like this before.” Rey said. 

 

Poe laughed and brought her in close to kiss her on the cheek, it wasn’t anything special, he’d done that to her since she was a teenager, and it was more than likely what caused her crush on him to develop like that in the first place. She’d gotten used to trying to control her reactions to him over the years, but she could never fight off the faint blush that she felt creep up her cheeks after he kissed her like that. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


It’d been two weeks into training with Poe, and the dinner for Jess finally came about. Rey and Finn had helped set up things in Poe’s apartment while Poe went out and picked up Jess, all the other guests arriving in the meantime, and when Poe brought Jess in, Rey swore she’d never seen Jess smile so much. Jess had always been a social butterfly by nature, and being confined to her apartment had been her worst nightmare, or at least that’s what Jess claimed. They’d managed to get some time to talk together while Finn captured everyone’s attention with another one of his stories he liked to tell so much, the two girls curled up on the sofa in the living room. 

 

“So, how’s the dancing been going?” Jess asked, at full attention and ready to hear whatever Rey had to tell her. 

 

“Well, I’ve stopped stepping on Poe’s toes so much, which I’m sure he’s relieved about.” Rey said. 

 

“That’s it?” Jess asked. 

 

“...What do you mean?” Rey asked. 

 

“I mean nothing’s happened between you two? At all?” Jess asked. 

 

“I-Jess, Poe’s one of my best friends, I wouldn’t do anything like that, especially with whatever you two-” 

 

“Wait, hold on, Poe and I?” Jess asked, looking extremely confused before letting out a loud laugh, though thankfully everyone was so engrossed in Finn’s story halfway across the apartment, no one noticed. “Poe is like my brother, I’d never go for him in a million years, he’s not my type.” 

 

“What? Okay, now I’m confused,” Rey said, “I thought with you two doing all these competitions together and all the time you spend together that you two would have something going on.” 

 

“No way,” Jess said, “don’t get me wrong, I love Poe, but like family not romantically, it’d be weird.” 

 

“...Then why were you asking if anything was going on between me and Poe?” Rey asked, still trying to clarify everything for the sake of her own confusion. 

 

“I thought it was pretty obvious,” Jess said, “I mean when I suggested the idea to Poe after I got hurt he turned bright red, not to mention he talks about you all time. If you go more than a few days without talking to him he drives me nuts at our practices together, asking me if you’re alright, if you’re busy, if you’re seeing anybody. It’s pretty obvious he likes you, though you’d probably never get him to admit it, just like how it took me three years to get you to tell me what I already knew about you liking him.” 

 

Everything Jess had said left Rey speechless, what was she supposed to say back to that? Poe never acted anything like that around her, and yet, everything Jess told her made him sound like he was a lovesick puppy - and  _ over her _ for that matter. She didn’t know what was more difficult to believe, the fact that Jess and Poe had nothing romantic between t m, or the fact that Poe seemed to like her just as much as she liked him. 

 

“Honestly, if I’d known getting myself hurt would have pushed you two together faster, I would have done this ages ago.” Jess said. “Well, maybe I would have faked it and not actually have broken something because this hurts like hell.” 

 

“I’ve never seen him act anything like that around me.” Rey said. 

 

“That’s probably because you’re too busy trying not to act like you have a crush on him while you’re around him,” Jess said, “look, if you don’t believe me, look over to your left.” 

 

Hesitantly, Rey complied and looked over to her left towards the dining room. Everyone was engrossed in Finn’s story, except for Poe, who was looking directly at her until he noticed her, promptly looking away and Rey swearing that she caught him blushing now. 

 

“Told you.” Jess replied in a sing-song tone. 

 

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Rey said turning back to her, “he could have been just checking on how we were doing.” 

 

“He’s doing it again.” Jess said, looking out of the corner of her eyes. 

 

Rey looked again, and yet again, Poe looked away right as he noticed her. This time his blushing caught Ben’s attention at the table, causing her older brother to glare at Poe, more than likely to keep his eyes on him for the rest of the night now, as over-protective as he was. By all means, this should have made Rey happy, but now she was trying to fight off the feeling of being terrified. 

 

“What am I supposed to do about that?” Rey asked in a sharp whisper. 

 

“I thought you’d be happy - “ 

 

“I am, it’s just, it’s Poe and I’m with him all the time now and...now it will be weird.” Rey said. 

 

“Rey,” Jess sighed, “you two just have to stop being so stupid about this and one of you has to say something, you can’t dance around this forever, literally.” 

 

“But what if you’re wrong and I say something and that makes everything weird?” Rey asked. 

 

“If I’m wrong, which I doubt I am, I will  punch him in his pretty little face for driving me insane.” Jess said. 

 

“But - “ 

 

“Just say something Rey, it’s better to say something than to make things even more awkward by you knowing all of this now. Plus, it’s Poe, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, even if by some chance I am wrong, he wouldn’t let things be weird between the two of you.” Jess said. 

 

Rey went silent, she knew Jess was right about that much, even if she did spill her guts to Poe about having a crush on him since she was thirteen, he would gracefully let her down and be sickeningly kind about it. Nothing bad could come out of it except for her being embarrassed for a few days and then moving on with the rest of her life as friends with him. 

 

“Fine, I’ll say something.” Rey said. 

 

“You better, if you don’t tell him by the competition, I’ll tell him myself just to get this awkward stuff over with between you two.” Jess said. 

 

She knew Jess wasn’t kidding when she said that, she  _ would _ tell Poe just to get past all of this awkwardness they had between them. While she loved JEss like a sister, she didn't want her going around and revealing her secret to Poe. 

 

“I’ll tell him before that.” Rey said. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


It was two hours before the competition, and technically it still counted as before the competition. They’d just gotten done with their rehearsals and after getting dressed, Rey just walked up to him and blurted it out in probably the least gracefully way possible. 

 

“You what?” Poe asked, seconds after. 

 

“I like you, more than just a friend, I’ve had this ridiculous crush on you since I was thirteen and you brought me flowers after I got stood up on that date,” Rey said, everything bubbling up and just spilling out now. 

 

His silence only made her nerves grow, she felt like she wanted to throw up right then and there and was grateful that she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. 

 

“That long?” He finally asked. 

 

“I know, it’s ridiculous and stupid and - “ 

 

“It’s not stupid, Rey,” Poe said, “I...I like you too.” 

 

“Really?” Rey asked, trying not to let her hopes get too high even though it seemed promising. 

 

Poe closed the little distance that was between them, gently resting his hands on her hips and hesitating, looking her right in the eyes before kissing her. She responded as soon as his lips were on hers, feeling a smile on his lips as he kissed her back. It felt like something that was too good to be true, but when they parted from one another, both slightly breathless, Rey knew that it actually happened, that they had actually kissed and she finally confessed. 

 

“What do we do now?” Rey asked. 

 

“FIrst we go out there and we have fun, I don’t care if we win or not, I’ve already won something worth more than a million trophies today,” Poe said, a broad grin on his face and Rey had to admit it was contagious as always, “and then I’m taking you out on a date.” 

 

“Tonight?” Rey asked. 

 

“We’re celebrating.” Poe replied. 

 

How was Rey going to concentrate on this dance when all she could think about was Poe’s smile and how damn happy she felt? 


End file.
